Former congressman and current US Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ LGBTQ+ rights record shows that he’s no friend to the queer community. He has opposed same-sex marriage and discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, and surrounded himself with anti-LGBTQ+ religious advisors.
It’s no wonder that the Human Rights Campaign has given Mike Rogers’ LGBTQ+ rights record a zero during his time in Congress. Now that he’s running again for Senate, it’s a great time to take a closer look at Mike Rogers’ LGBTQ+ rights record, including statements and votes he has made against queer equality.
Related
Mike Rogers at a glance
- Location: White Lake Township, Michigan
- Position sought: Michigan’s US Senate seat
- Current position: Technical and Security Advisory Committee member for Telefónica and board member of IP3 International.
- Party affiliation: Republican
- Race/ethnicity: White
- Gender identity: Cisgender male
- Sexual orientation: Heterosexual
- LGBTQ+ ally: No
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Social media
Biography
Born in Livonia, Michigan, on June 2, 1963, Rogers graduated from Adrian College in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology. He served in the US Army from 1985 to 1989 and served as a special FBI agent in Chicago from 1989 to 1994.
In 1994, he was elected to the Michigan Senate and served there until 2001. That year, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he served until 2015.
In 2016, he began work as a security adviser for the telecommunications company AT&T, and he served on the advisory board for the telecommunications company Telefónica from 2018 to 2024. He launched his first unsuccessful bid for the US Senate in August 2023 but lost to his Democratic opponent, Elissa Slotkin. In April 2025, he announced his current campaign for Michigan’s US Senate seat.
Mike Rogers’ stance on LGBTQ+ rights
While it’s unclear whether Mike Rogers’ LGBTQ+ stances include any public statements about gender-affirming care for trans minors or conversion therapy, in 2006, he called being gay a “lifestyle choice,” and he has a history of opposing LGBTQ+ civil rights and of surrounding himself with anti-LGBTQ+ Christian advisors.
In December 2025, Rogers announced the creation of his “Faith Coalition” campaign leadership team, which included a member who called homosexuality a “violation of God’s design,” one (Lorenzo Sewell) who said that LGBTQ+ civil rights undermine Christian teachings and that LGBTQ+ civil rights “superimpose your sexuality on our culture”; another (Brian Ford) who called homosexuality a “sexual perversion”; and another (Linda Lee Tarver) who called federal LGBTQ+ protections a “godless, demonic, satanic and wicked agenda.”
Same-sex marriage
Rogers has opposed same-sex marriage.
In 2004, Rogers said that same-sex couples were “claiming a right that has never existed” and that “polygamists argue the same case.” That year, he voted for the Marriage Protection Act, legislation that would have barred federal courts from hearing challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law denying any legal recognition of married same-sex couples. That same year, he also voted for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman — he voted in support of the same amendment in 2006.
That year, he reportedly told the Lansing City Pulse, “When you’re taking what is a lifestyle choice into the public arena, into the courtroom like that, it has ramifications… marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
“Don’t Say Gay” laws/LGBTQ+ discussions in schools
In a 2023 campaign ad, Rogers claimed, “Schools care more about social engineering than, as my father used to say, the three ‘R’s’: Readin’, ‘Ritin, and ‘Rithmetic.’” His rhetoric echoes that of so-called parents’ rights activists who oppose LGBTQ+-inclusive education and school policies.
During a March 2023 interview with Joy Reid, Rogers defended the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Moms for Liberty’s banning of anti-racist and LGBTQ+-inclusive books from school libraries. He compared the availability of such books to “pornography” and reportedly said that a book cannot be considered banned if it is still obtainable outside of the classroom or library. This latter claim is untrue, as books can be banned in certain environments while still being available elsewhere.
Transgender athletes in sports
During an August 2024 roundtable discussion, he pledged to “fix Title IX,” a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education, which Republicans say should ban trans girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports, locker rooms, and restrooms. He claimed that trans-inclusive interpretations of Title IX are “taking that opportunity [for equal treatment in sports] away” from cisgender girls and women.
“It is not about the LGBTQ community… It’s about fairness to women,” he said of his pledge to “fix” Title IX. He also signed the Stand With Women pledge to “uphold laws that preserve female opportunities and private spaces.”
In October 2024, he said of his Democratic Senate opponent Elissa Slotkin, “She voted to allow biological males in women’s sports, men in women’s locker rooms… that’s not ‘Team Normal’”
In December 2025, he said, “Protecting girls’ sports is common sense. But the Left insists on waging war on women and girls, and on leaving parents completely in the dark…. We have to shut this nonsense down. This isn’t about politics; it’s about maintaining safety, privacy, and fairness for young girls. As Senator, I will work with President Trump and our leaders in Lansing to protect girls’ sports and spaces.”
His rhetoric vilifies trans people as a threat to women and girls; such rhetoric encourages violence against trans people.
An August 2026 Rogers’ campaign ad targeting his Senate opponent, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, said, “Abdul thinks football is bad, but men playing in women’s sports is good.”
Discrimination protections
In 2007, Rogers voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, federal legislation that would prohibit anti-LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination. In 2007 and 2009, he voted against two bills to include sexual orientation as a protected characteristic in federal hate crime laws. In May and December 2010, he voted against legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the federal ban on out LGBTQ+ military service members.
He also opposed the LGBTQ+-inclusive interpretation of Title IX espoused by former President Joe Biden’s administration. Biden’s administration required schools to have LGBTQ+-inclusive student policies, allowing trans students the right to use names, pronouns, and facilities matching their gender identity.
Mike Rogers’ career
- Graduated from Adrian College in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology
- Served in the US Army from 1985 to 1985
- Worked as a special FBI agent in Chicago from 1989 to 1994
- Served in the Michigan Senate from 1994 to 2001
- Served in the US House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015
- Worked for the telecommunications companies AT&T and Telefónica from 2016 to 2024
- Unsuccessfully ran for US Senate in 2024
- Announced second US Senate campaign in 2025
Mike Rogers’ LGBTQ+ record is uniformly against equality
Mike Rogers’ LGBTQ+ comments and legislative record both demonstrate his opposition to equality for queer Americans. If elected to the US Senate, he would join Republicans in continuing to attack LGBTQ+ civil rights, particularly LGBTQ+ students and trans children.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.